The history of Old English and its development
Информация - Разное
Другие материалы по предмету Разное
/b> (to rest), reste, rest / rested
Irregular
sellan (to give), sealde, seald
tellan (to tell), tealde, teald
cwellan (to kill), cwealde, cweald
tcan (to teach), thte, tht
rcan (to reach), rhte, rht
bycgan (to buy), bohte, boht
scan (to seek), shte, sht
wyrcan (to work), worhte, worht
encan (to think), hte, ht
bringan (to bring), brhte, brht
Other examples of the I class weak verbs just for your interest: berian (beat), derian (harm), erian (plough), ferian (go), herian (praise), gremman (be angry), wennan (accustom), clynnan (sound), dynnan (resound), hlynnan (roar), hrissan (tremble), scean (harm), wecgean (move), fran (go), lran (teach), drfan (drive), fsan (hurry), drgean (dry), hepan (heap), mtan (to meet), wscean (wish), byldan (build), wendan (turn), efstan (hurry). All these are regular.
Class II
macian (to make), macode, macod
lufian (to love), lufode, lufod
hopian (to hope), hopode, hopod
Tis class makes quite a small group of verbs, all of them having -o- before the past endings. Other samples: lofian (praise), stician (pierce), eardian (dwell), scawian (look), weorian (honour), wundrian (wonder), fstnian (fasten), mrsian (glorify).
Class III
habban (to have), hfde, hfd
libban (to live), lifde, lifd
secgan (to say), sgde, sgd
hycgan (to think), hogde, hogod
ragan (to threaten), rade, rad
smagan (to think), smade, smad
frogan (to free), frode, frod
fogan (to hate), fode, fod
Old English verbs are conjugated having two tenses - the Present tense and the Past tense, and three moods - indicative, subjunctive, and imperative. Of these, only the subjunctive mood has disappeared in the English language, acquiring an analytic construction instead of inflections; and the imperative mood has coincided with the infinitive form (to write - write!). In the Old English period they all looked different.
The common table of the verb conjugation is given below. Here you should notice that the Present tense has the conjugation for all three moods, while the Past tense - for only two moods (no imperative in the Past tense, naturally). Some more explanation should be given about the stem types.
In fact all verbal forms were generated in Old English from three verb stems, and each verb had its own three ones: the Infinitive stem, the Past Singular stem, the Past Plural stem. For the verb wrtan, for example, those three stems are: wrt- (infinitive without the ending -an), wrt- (the Past singular), writ- (the Past plural without the ending -on). The table below explains where to use this or that stem.
Additionally, the participles (Participle I and Participle II) are formed by the suffix -ende to the Infinitive stem (participle I), or the prefix ge- + the Past Plural stem + the ending -en (Participle II).
Tired of the theory? Here is the preactice. We give several examples of the typical verbs - first strong, then weak, then irregular.
Class I strong - wrtan (to write)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imper. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 wrte - wrt
2 wrtest wrte wrt write } wrte
3 wrte - wrt
Pl. wrta wrten 2 wrta writon writen
Infinitive Participle
wrtan I wrtende II gewriten
Class II weak - lufian (to love)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 lufie - lufode
2 lufast }lufie lufa lufodest } lufode
3 lufa - lufode
Pl. lufia lufien 2 lufia lufodon lufoden
Part.
I lufiende II gelufod
Class III strong - bindan (to bind)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 binde - band, bond
2 bindest } binde bind bunde } bunde
3 binde - band, bond
Pl. binda binden binda bundon bunden
Inf. Part.
bindan I bindende II gebunden
Class V strong - son (to see)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 so - seah
2 sehst } so seoh swe } swe,
3 seh - seah sge
Pl. so son 2 so sawon swen
Participle
I sonde II gesewen, gesegen
Class VII strong - fn (to catch)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 f - feng
2 fhst } f fh fenge } fenge
3 fh - feng
Pl. f fn 2 f fengon fengen
Participle
I fnde II gefangen, gefongen
Class III weak - secgan (to say)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 secge - sgde
2 sgst }secge sge sgdest }sgde
3 sg - sgde
Pl. secga secgen 2 secga sgdon sgden
Part.
I secgende II gesgd
Class III weak - libban (to live)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Imp. Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 libbe - lifde
2 liofast }libbe liofa lifdest } lifde
3 liofa - lifde
Pl. libba libben 2 libba lifdon lifden
Part.
I libbende II gelifd
A special group is made by the so-called Present-Preterite verbs, which are conjugated combining two varieties of the usual verb conjugation: strong and weak. These verbs, at all not more than seven, are nowadays called modal verbs in English.
Present-Preterite verbs have their Present tense forms generated from the Strong Past, and the Past tense, instead, looks like the Present Tense of the Weak verbs. The verbs we present here are the following: witan (to know), cunnan (can), urfan (to need), dearan (to dare), munan (to remember), sculan (shall), magan (may).
Present of witan (= strong Past)
Ind. Subj. Imp.
Sg. 1 wt -
2 wast } wite wite
3 wt -
Pl. witon 2 witen wita
Past (= Weak)
Ind. Subj.
Sg.1 wisse, wiste
2 wissest, wistest } wisse, wiste
3 wisse, wiste
Pl. wisson, wiston wissen, wisten
Participles: I witende, II witen, gewiten
cunnan (can)
Pres. Past
Ind. Subj. Ind. Subj.
Sg. 1 cann ce
2 canst } cunne cest } ce
3 cann ce
Pl. cunnon cunnen con cen
urfan (need)
Sg. 1 earf orfte
2 earft } urfe orftest } orfte
3 earf orfte
Pl. urfon urfen orfton orften
magan (may)
Sg. 1 mg meahte mihte, mihten
2 meaht } mge meahtest
3 mg meahte
Pl. magon mgen meahton
The main difference of verbs of this type in modern English is their expressing modality, i.e. possibility, obligation, necessity. They do not require the particle to before the infinitive which follows them. In Old English in general no verb requires this particle before the infinitive. In fact, this to before the infinitive form meant the preposition of direction.
And now finally a few irregular verbs, which used several different stems for their tenses. These verbs are very important in Old English and are met very often in the texts: wesan (to be), bon (to be), gn (to go), dn (to do), willan (will). Mind that there was no Future tense in the Old English language, and the future action was expressed by the Present forms, just sometimes using verbs of modali